


open up my ribcage (i’ll find you there)

by renhyuck (thereisnoreality)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, M/M, The Myth of Persephone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 18:58:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16414037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thereisnoreality/pseuds/renhyuck
Summary: roses are red, violets are blue, do you love me as much as I love you?





	open up my ribcage (i’ll find you there)

**Author's Note:**

> \- i wrote this all in a day so please forgive any writing or grammar mistakes but i think this is proudest i've been of a fic, though i say that for every new thing i post  
> \- i tried out a new writing style here, let me know what you think!  
> \- a [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/thereisnoreality/playlist/3jiCzGfcPV0Pn2OgSdnCQ1?si=k7DfIijcQS-UHr9Jvxkh1A) of songs i listened to while writing

 

the human realm is warm. doyoung never expects the strength of the heat, the way the sun beats down on his shoulders, the way his limbs feel weighed down in a way that’s never felt in his home. he’s on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the sea, the wind swirling around him and doyoung stares down at the waves crashing against the cliffside as if they’re trying to bring it down with mere persistence alone. typical. the wind howls louder and overhead the clouds part, dizzyingly, and doyoung looks up just in time for a ray of sunshine to pour down on his face, momentarily blinding him. doyoung stays staring up at the sun, embracing the sensation.

 

“you should be careful,” a voice says, loud enough to be heard over the wind but not so loud that it would startle an unwary soul. “it’s a long way down.”

 

doyoung turns away from the sun. standing beside him is a mortal, tall and golden in a way that mortals rarely are. he smiles at doyoung and doyoung is struck with a strange feeling. surely he’d just looked away from the sun?

 

“i am not afraid of falling,” doyoung manages, the words sticking in his throat. how long has it been since he held a conversation with a mortal? how long since it was with one who looked like this?

 

the mortal dimples at him, deep caverns appearing in his cheek as if by magic and doyoung fingers itch to touch, to press. “no,” he agrees and looks down at their feet, doyoung’s bare, inches from the cliff edge, tempting fate. “you do not seem afraid of much.”

 

doyoung arches an eyebrow. “am i that easy to read?”

 

the mortal laughs. “not at all,” he says, tilting his head back much in the same fashion that doyoung had, golden hair falling into his eyes. “but i would like to be able to.”

 

doyoung is struck silent. he cannot think. he doesn’t remember the last time a mortal spoke so boldly to him. in that brief moment of silence, covered up only by the wind whistling around them, buffeting into doyoung’s shoulders as if urging him off the cliff, the mortal looks back down at him and doyoung can only stare back. he doesn’t know last when he was struck into silence like this.

 

“i have overstepped my bounds-” the mortal starts, a regretful expression crossing his absurdly handsome features and doyoung shakes his head. overeager. greedy.

 

“not at all,” he says, and before he can stop himself, he reaches out a hand and brushes his fingers over the back of the mortal’s hand.

 

the mortal startles for a second, eyes wide, before his expression melts into a wonderful smile. somewhere in the deepest cavern of doyoung’s heart, rusted and dusty from misuse, a light flickers on rendering him breathless. “i have not enough practice in restraining myself,” the mortal says, quietly sheepish, an apology that isn’t an apology. “it is yet to be trained out of me.”

 

“royalty,” doyoung states. it is not a question. it would be foolish to assume anything else, not when the mortal looks as he does, carries himself as he does, with such grace that doyoung feels as if he is committing a great sin simply by looking at him.

 

“a half blood,” the mortal agrees glancing up at the skies. the sun, previously having vanished behind the clouds, suddenly comes out again bathing him in gold. “claimed by both worlds, belonging to none.” when doyoung says nothing, the mortal shakes himself out of the reverie with another smile. “but i should not be so maudlin, not when i am graced with such remarkable company.”

 

doyoung takes a breath. a half blood, blessed by the gods. he must know. doyoung is not a secret anyone will expend energy to hide, not even from mortals. “remarkable is a strange way to put it,” he says, aching in his anticipation of the other’s shock, the disgust and fear that will soon fill his eyes.

 

the mortal gazes at him, eyes clear and guileless. “what do you mean?”

 

he does not know.

 

in that instant doyoung is faced with two choices. he has lived a very long time, long enough to know what the right decision is, and what the better decision is. standing there barefoot in the grass on the edge of a cliff, under the strange, unfamiliar heat of the sun, staring into the eyes of a mortal he barely knows but desperately wants to know, doyoung makes his decision.

 

“it is nothing,” doyoung says smiling for the first time since he set foot on this realm. “a mere slip of the tongue.”

 

the mortal smiles, eyes sparkling. “something tells me you never have those.”

 

doyoung quirks his lips. “tell me then,” he says daring to take a step closer, bare feet brushing soundless against the grass. “what is the identity of the stranger who can read me so easily?”

 

sunlight spills across his lashes, his lips, setting him aflame. “jaehyun,” he inclines his head barely. royalty lives in his veins, swims in his lungs, covers him from head to toe, so much so that it won’t allow him to bow to someone like doyoung. doyoung finds that he quite likes it. “jaehyun of the house of demeter.”

 

doyoung chooses to fall.

 

↠↞

  


doyoung cannot say he dislikes his kingdom. it is his, after all. he built it with his own hands, bleeding and bruised, after his brothers had cast him out from the skies. doyoung carries much resentment and anger in his heart, but none of it is ever directed towards his home. that does not mean he sometimes wishes he were anywhere else but here.

 

ten follows him doggedly, dodging the plants that doyoung had planted outside his rooms.  the more monstrous the better.

 

“i know where you went,” ten says cheerfully, warningly, leaping over a thorny tentacle. he has been badgering doyoung since he came back and doyoung is ready to feed him to ruby if only to shut him up.

 

“you are far too nosy for your own good,” doyoung agrees wearily, trying to shut the door to his rooms quickly enough but ten slips through.

 

“doyoung,” ten says all mirth out of  his voice and doyoung finally turns. “do i have to warn you from things you already know are forbidden?”

 

“it is not your place to warn me of anything,” doyoung bites back and ten’s expression shutters.

 

“my king,” ten says and doyoung freezes. “he is human.”

 

“he is a half blood.”

 

“he will die,” ten counters. “or he will live long enough to figure out who you are. both will hurt only you in the end.”

 

doyoung takes a breath and closes his eyes. he knows all of this and more. he knows precisely the way jaehyun will back away from him, the way his hand will shoot for the sword at his side, the way he will curse doyoung for being what he is, as if he ever had a choice in the first place. he knows firsthand the pain that comes with it.

 

“perhaps he is worth it,” doyoung says, finally letting out his breath. “have you considered that?”

 

“i don’t have to,” ten says and his eyes, black and endless, are sad. “you already have. there is nothing i can say that will change your mind now.”

 

↠↞

  


jaehyun is waiting for him when doyoung steps out of the fog.

 

“that was appropriately mysterious,” jaehyun laughs as doyoung comes nearer.

 

doyoung presses his lips together in embarrassment. “i must take every precaution as to not be seen,” he starts only to break off when jaehyun lays a hand on his arm. his blood starts pulsing harder, eager to reach the point where jaehyun has touched him.

 

“you don’t have to justify yourself,” jaehyun says, smiling at him. “i gathered the kingdom of the gods is not a forgiving one.”

 

doyoung stares. “i am not of the gods,” he says feebly. already he can feel jaehyun drawing away. already he can hear the curses, the disgust in his tone. already he can feel the pain.

 

“please,” jaehyun says, tightening his grip, just barely, on doyoung’s arm. it is enough to make him pause in his step. “do not insult my intelligence. i may be a warrior, but i warrant i have something of worth in this thick skull of mine.” he smiles, a small bare thing, and doyoung’s heart starts to hammer a rusty old tune.

 

“you know who i am then?” doyoung whispers. ten was right. he should not have gotten so attached so quickly, not to the point where this moment, right now, is set to tear him apart.

 

“yes.” jaehyun steps closer, eyes flicking over doyoung’s face. “i learnt after our third meeting. in retrospect, it was silly for me not have to noticed before, but,” his lips quirk up. “my intelligence is not endless, i suppose.”

 

“then why are you still here?” doyoung asks and it feels as if there is a block sitting on his chest, making it harder to breathe. “why haven’t you run?”

“because i am not afraid,” jaehyun says simply.

 

doyoung laughs, but there is nothing funny about it. “not afraid of the god of death? you _are_ foolish.”

 

“i am not afraid of death,”  jaehyun says, looking him straight in the eyes, pinning him to where he stands. “i was born around war, regardless of my heritage, i have killed more men than i am willing to say, but more importantly, i am not afraid of you.”

 

doyoung’s lips part. “you are foolish,” he whispers again as jaehyun takes a step closer. “you may not be afraid of me, but i will be the end of you. maybe not today, or in a decade, but someday, jaehyun, i will meet you at the end of it all, and i will not be able to save you.”

 

jaehyun’s hand comes up, off his arm, and hovers in the air, by doyoung’s cheek. “do you know?” he says quietly, fingers a mere hairsbreadth away from his skin. doyoung’s face feels like it is being set aflame. “that that is the first time you have used my name since we met?”

 

“yes.” it had started out as an exercise to distance himself, a reminder that even if they got close, even if doyoung started to fall, they were never meant to be. it had ended in doyoung becoming too afraid to let those syllables pass his lips, fearing he’d never be able to stop saying them once they’d left his person.

 

“do not be afraid,” jaehyun says and it is torture to stand so close to him, to have him hover so close, and still not touch him. “my king, do not be afraid of me. do not be afraid of us.”

 

“i am not your king,” doyoung says hoarsely, if only to have something to say. how can he explain in mere words how terrified he is of jaehyun? how frightening it is that a mortal has such power over him. how he would do anything for those golden eyes to look at him one more time.

 

jaehyun moves even closer, if possible, and looks at doyoung through his eyelashes. “what if i want you to be?” he asks, and doyoung cannot ever have imagined such a sinful thing spilling from such lovely lips. “will you refuse me even then?”

 

“i do not think i have able to resist you from the moment i first laid my eyes upon you,” doyoung says truthfully because there is nothing left to say. there is no way out of this but forwards, towards jaehyun. “i do not think i could refuse you anything.”

 

doyoung is drowning in jaehyun’s eyes. “then do not refuse me this,” jaehyun says and his fingers finally touch his cheek, cup his chin. doyoung goes willingly. how funny it is, to see a god crumple under a mere touch, under a mere gaze from a mortal, even a mortal as wondrous as this one. “be mine.”

  


doyoung falls.

  


↠↞

  


“you are foolish.”

 

doyoung doesn’t turn away from his garden, brushing a hand across the leaves of the pomegranate tree curving above him. it is has existed here, in the glassy greenhouse doyoung had built, almost as long as doyoung himself. the fruit is just beginning to sprout anew, tiny bell-like spheres peeking out of the leaves, the flesh a muted red.

 

“are you listening to me?” ten demands, moving into the garden.

 

doyoung sighs and turns, a swish of his long cloak turning into shadow before it can upend the pots below the tree. “have i any other option?” he asks wryly, brushing past ten to the other side of the garden, past the greenhouse, to the river that runs outside it, carrying the new souls into his realm. “your voice is one i have longed to escape for years, and yet here we are.”

 

“my lord,” ten says sounding harried and when doyoung raises an eyebrow at him he amends. “doyoung.”

 

“i am not going to stop,” doyoung says, standing at the edge of the riverbank, letting the cold water brush over his bare toes, soaking the bottom of his pants with the lost tears of millions. “so you might as well cease your nagging.”

 

“it is my job to nag you,” ten says but the tension has seeped out of his voice. he stays back, wisely not touching the water. “you do not listen to reason, despite having lived for so long.”

 

“he knows who i am,” doyoung says, staring down the long stretch of the river, waiting. they are coming.

 

“oh.” he feels more than hears ten’s surprise. “and he did not run?”

 

doyoung twists his lips into a wry smile. if only jaehyun had run. then it would have been for the best. then doyoung would not have to exist in this realm of dread, knowing what was to come in such a short time, only a few decades, and knowing there was nothing he could to do stop it. in such a short time, he was to be alone again. “he did not run,” doyoung agrees. “he held me in his arms and asked me to be his.”

 

ten says nothing for a beat then sighs. “if it were not for the happiness in your tone, i would warn you off him. he will do nothing but cause you pain.”

 

“there is nothing in my tone,” doyoung says choosing to ignore the other statement. it is nothing he already doesn’t know.

 

ten laughs. “play these games with someone who hasn’t been by your side for millenia.” he takes a breath to say more but doyoung holds up a hand to silence as the first boats peek through at the end of the curve.

 

it has been a while since doyoung has watched the procession of souls. it is a solemn occasion, a reminder to him why he continues to do this, not out of duty or pressure, but that at the end of it all, this is his kingdom and it is his to serve. the souls peek over each other as they pass him, their whispers sounding like the wind. the water laps at his ankles, displaced by the boats and doyoung imagines he can feel the hands of those who have fallen in reaching up to grab him, wrapping their thin, decaying fingers around his ankles to tug him down with them into the acheron. sometimes he thinks it is what he deserves.

 

doyoung waits until the last boat has passed, the souls craning their necks to catch a glimpse of him, before they round the bend around the greenhouse and disappear. it is unlikely he will see them again.

 

↠↞

  


“why won’t you bring me to your home?”

 

doyoung’s eyes flicker open. they are lying under the shade of a pomegranate tree, not unlike the ones doyoung grows back in his realm, but here in the ever constant sunshine, it thrives. doyoung leans against the trunk with jaehyun’s head in his lap, a small pleased smile on his lips as doyoung cards his fingers ever so gently through his hair.

 

“you cannot be asking me this,” doyoung says peering down at him and jaehyun opens his eyes to look back up at him.

 

“i am,” jaehyun says, reaching his hand up to catch doyoung’s in his own. he interlocks their fingers and smooths his thumb over doyoung’s skin. their hands are as much at odds as any pair of hands can be. while doyoung’s are ivory pale, unblemished despite the long years they have weathered, jaehyun’s are tanned and scarred, nicks from swords and knives littering his knuckles and palms, telling a story of a man too young to have seen the things he has seen. too lovely to be where he is now, in the lap of death, smiling peacefully. “it has been half a year, my king.”

 

a small flush runs down doyoung’s back at those words. jaehyun had discovered the potency of the title a long time ago and uses it only when he wants his way. as if doyoung would not drop everything for him, as if he would not rip the earth in half if jaehyun only requested it, a small smile playing at the edges of his lips, a pleading look in his eyes.

 

“you are asking to venture into the realm of the dead, jaehyun,” doyoung says hushed. “no mortal, half blood or not, has ever gone in and come back out again.”

 

“no mortal has ever had you next to them,” jaehyun says.

 

doyoung twists his lips wryly. “you overestimate me. even i have my limits.”

 

“but this is not one of them,” jaehyun sits up, so suddenly that doyoung rears back to avoid a collision. “my king,” he whispers, curling into doyoung, resting upon him, the weight a delicious pressure on doyoung’s legs. “do not refuse me this.”

 

doyoung gazes back at him, and daringly, a minute tremble in his hand, lifts his hand to brush the hair out of jaehyun’s eyes. “as if i could refuse you anything,” he whispers. jaehyun doesn’t smile, only stares back him, so close their breaths mingle, hot and heavy in the heat. doyoung aches to move closer, to close the gap between them, to have jaehyun so close they become one.

 

the end rushes up to meet him, closer and closer still.

 

he is still falling.

 

he wonders when he will hit the ground.

  


↠↞

 

it is a horrible thing to think but the moment doyoung sets his eyes upon jaehyun standing in his kingdom, having just disembarked from the boat, his first thought is _he belongs here._ jaehyun stands, tall and proud above the black grass, his red cloak shines like a beacon in the dark and his hair glimmers where there no light. he is achingly mortal, but he belongs here. he fits in as easily as doyoung does, melding into the dark background, the inky sky, as if he’s been there forever, ruling by doyoung’s side since the beginning.

 

“it suits you,” is the first thing jaehyun says, turning around to take in everything. he turns again, too quickly, and stumbles on the rocky ground. doyoung catches him around the waist before he can fall.

 

“silly mortal,” doyoung murmurs tugging him close, just to set him upright. only for that.

 

jaehyun gasps out a laugh, high and tinkling, a sound previously unheard here. doyoung drinks it in. “silly me,” he agrees, winding his arms around doyoung’s waist pulling him close. “i wanted to see everything.”

 

“you are not looking at everything though,” doyoung points out, gazing back at him. “you are looking at me.”

 

jaehyun’s mouth curves into a mischievous smile, too bright, too good, to exist here. “perhaps you are my everything.”

 

“oh,” doyoung says, hushed. the words hit him somewhere low in the chest and he knows with a sudden certainty that jaehyun has ruined him forever. “you are _dangerous_.”

 

jaehyun cups his cheek gently, and draws him closer. “never towards you,” he whispers. “never intentionally.”

 

maybe never by intention, but jaehyun will destroy doyoung one day.

 

the ground rushes ever closer.

  


↠↞

 

jaehyun drinks in everything with the demeanour of a wide eyed child. his hand, firmly clasped in doyoung’s, tightens when they come upon doyoung’s home. his castle is an indulgence, the one extravagant thing he’d allowed himself, besides the greenhouse. it is made completely of obsidian and stretches up into the night sky, the sharp spires blending with the background.

 

“is that your home?” jaehyun asks, craning his neck to try and see the end of the towers.

 

“yes, it is.”

 

“it suits you,” jaehyun says and when doyoung quirks an eyebrow at him, he elaborates. “it is beautiful and deadly, just like you.”

 

“deadly,” doyoung echoes. “yes, i suppose it is.”

 

“deadly,” jaehyun presses, tightening his hand around doyoung’s. “but no less precious, especially to me.”

  
  


 

doyoung leads him up the winding staircases, letting jaehyun pause and observe the plants that cover every inch of the walls and floors.

 

“you have an affinity for growing them,” jaehyun says smiling up at doyoung from where he’s crouched over a long vine, the roots of which are wrapping around his boots sneakily.

 

“ironic, isn’t it?” doyoung says smirking. “that surrounded by so much death, they still manage to thrive.”

 

“natural,” jaehyun corrects, rising and interlocking their fingers once more. “a balance must exist, my king, and your realm is no different.”

 

“are you my balance then?” doyoung wonders bravely. he is not allowed to wonder these things, not when he knows how it ends. he does so anyway.

 

jaehyun smiles at him. “as long as you will have me, yes.”

 

doyoung grips his hand tighter. “you may never have the chance to leave,” he warns. “i will want you forever.”

 

“what a coincidence,” jaehyun says, and his gaze is bruising, leaving pockets of fire skittering across doyoung’s skin. “i will too.”

 

↠↞

 

doyoung measures the time in heartbeats. they climb higher up the tower, to doyoung’s rooms, a wide expanse of things he has no use for but which ten insisted on keeping. _you’re a king, at least act like it_ , he’d said.

 

a heartbeat.

jaehyun takes both his hands in his own. a heartbeat. “do you remember what I said to you, that time I told you I knew who you were?”

 

doyoung remembers every conversation they’ve had, every smile jaehyun has graced him with, every breath he’s taken, lips parting so prettily for air. “yes,” he says instead of this.

 

“i asked you to be mine.” a heartbeat.

 

“if you have to ask again-“ doyoung starts gently but jaehyun shakes his head drawing him closer.

 

“i’m telling you this time,” jaehyun says placing doyoung’s hands on his waist and moving his own to the back of doyoung’s neck, one sliding to cup his cheek, a familiar gesture all on its own. a heartbeat. “I want to be yours.” he glances at doyoung through his lashes, familiar, familiar, familiar. “will you refuse me this?”

 

a heartbeat. two. three. “no,” doyoung breathes and moves in.

 

kissing jaehyun is what doyoung thinks salvation might feel like, if he believed in such a thing, if he believed that he was worthy of it. jaehyun bends to his touch, pliant and beautiful, hands tightening around doyoung’s neck, pulling him in, closer, closer, closer.

 

he presses jaehyun down on the bed. a heartbeat. hands wander restlessly, jaehyun clutches doyoung to him. a heartbeat.

 

jaehyun moves first, ever braver than doyoung, ever fearless. his hand slips to the ties holding doyoung’s shirt together and glances up at him, a wordless question. doyoung would give jaehyun the world if he asked; this request is the easiest thing he’s ever had to do. a heartbeat. jaehyun swallows hard when he lays back down, bare chest gleaming in the candlelight, breath coming heavy. _please_ he mouths soundlessly, presses the words into doyoung’s collarbones, kisses his way down and across his chest _please, please, please_. a heartbeat. doyoung’s hand slide down his thighs, wraps jaehyun’s legs around his waist, kisses him, hard and open, pressing closer and closer until there is nothing between them. _i would give him everything_ doyoung thinks, drawing back and pressing his teeth into the space between jaehyun’s jaw and neck. jaehyun’s lips are blood red, swollen and parted around a gasp. he is the most beautiful thing doyoung has ever seen. _i would give him all of me if he asked._ a heartbeat. jaehyun pulls him back over him, fingers digging into the space between his shoulder blades and doyoung goes willingly.

 

 _i know_ jaehyun mouths around a gasp, throwing his head back, exposing his neck and doyoung gives into the urge to bite. he does not feel like a god at that moment, feels more mortal than he’s ever felt, feels as if he’s on his knees in front of jaehyun, praying for some of his grace. he doesn’t deserve it, doesn’t deserve to even look upon him as he is now, with his skin gleaming golden in the light, his eyes dark and attractive, a black hole doyoung willingly sinks into. he prays anyway.

a heartbeat. _don’t stop_ jaehyun whispers, and doyoung kisses him again, drinks him in, swallows him whole, drowns in the deep well of his eyes. presses his thumbs into the dimples of jaehyun’s cheeks just like he’d wanted to do for months and falls and falls and falls. _don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop._

 _i’m yours_ jaehyun says and doyoung closes his eyes, presses his face into the crook of jaehyun’s neck, presses his lips to the golden skin there, revels in the way jaehyun claws down his back, in the way his thighs tighten around his waist, presses closer, closer, closer. _be mine._

 

doyoung already is.

 

↠↞  


a year passes, faster than doyoung can blink, and he is summoned to olympus. he rarely ventures to the golden kingdom of the gods, has no reason to. but he is here now, staring with trepidation at the gates to throne room of olympus. it has been an age since he last stood here, and doyoung feels the difference keenly now, more than ever. he does not fit here. his black cloak, ivory skin, obsidian eyes, they are all the exact opposite of the warm, tanned olympians whose laughter fades when they see him standing there. doyoung takes a breath, then another, and another. thinks of jaehyun and pushes his way in.

 

the king of gods sits on his throne. doyoung has always thought he was arrogant and it seems the years apart have not diluted that inflated sense of self importance at all.

 

“brother,” johnny says, not moving from his throne when doyoung enters. doyoung’s jaw clenches for a second, before he lets it go. “it has been ages since i last saw your face.”

 

“yet nothing has changed,” doyoung agrees, coming to a stop a few meters away from the throne. he does not bow. johnny’s eyes harden.

 

“some things have changed.” johnny braces his chin on his fist. “you are disobeying the ancient laws, brother dear. they exist for a reason.”

 

doyoung closes his eyes for a second. “we’re jumping straight to that, then?” he asks, choosing not to answer straight away. anger is not a thing doyoung has summoned in a very long time, but it is always roiling close to the surface and here, in the gilded palace of the gods, the palace he was cast out of, it rises to edge, threatening to boil over. “no exchanging pleasantries?”

“we can do that any other time.” johnny’s eyes do not change.

 

“we can, but we don’t,” doyoung says. “in fact, i cannot recall the last time i was allowed up here. was it six hundred years ago, brother _dear_? or was it seven hundred?”

“this is not what i called you up here for,” johnny says, and there’s an edge to his voice. doyoung bites down on the swell of satisfaction. _good._  he is not some mere pawn to be summoned at his brother’s wishes. he is a king. he answers to no one.

 

“no, what you called me up here for is my personal business,” doyoung says placidly. “and is therefore none of your concern.”

 

“it is when you involve a mortal,” johnny snaps. “especially one that is of our blood.”

 

“jaehyun.”

 

johnny falters for the first time, eyebrows drawing together. “what?”

 

“his name. it’s jaehyun,” doyoung says and watches as johnny’s expression darkens further.

 

“i don’t care what his name is, doyoung. you are to cease this immediately. you cannot make him immortal. the ancient laws forbid it.”

 

“cease what?” doyoung asks. “if his name is of no importance to you, then why must you concern yourself with my doings?”

 

“you are _my_ brother and I care-”

 

doyoung laughs, harsh and discordant. it echoes unpleasantly against the high ceilings. “your _brother_? the brother you threw out of olympus with your own hands? the one you cast away because of your own selfish greed? is that the brother you claim to care for?” he takes a sharp, angry breath. “listen to me very closely, _brother dear_. i have put up with your whims and fancies, i allowed you to treat me lesser than the dirt underneath your shoes, i let you push me down into the deepest caverns of the universe. but you would do well to remember that the dead are peaceful because _i_ make it so. your world is still beholden to the gods because _i_ say it is. the sacrifices they make in your honour continue because of their fear of _me._ i have endured a hundred thousand trials at your hand but this is one thing you will not take away from me.” he locks eyes with johnny and feels savagely pleased when he sees the king of gods blink, sees him stutter. “you will stay away from me. from us. or i swear upon _my_ kingdom, you will truly see what hell is like.”

 

doyoung turns on his heel and lets the shadows consume him.

 

easily and without regret, he has fallen.

 

↠↞

 

oddly enough, jaehyun shines brighter in doyoung’s kingdom than he does anywhere else. the stars in the sky reflect off his hair, make him glow more beautiful than any gem doyoung could unearth.

 

“you are worried,” jaehyun murmurs. they are in doyoung’s garden and it is here where jaehyun’s heritage truly springs to life. dark red roses, the type of which never bloomed under doyoung’s hands, unfurl in majestic beauty under jaehyun’s touch. white lilies crawl in vines up the sides of the greenhouse. doyoung plucks a few off to make a crown which he then places on jaehyun’s head. it suits him more than any jewel encrusted circlet would.

 

“yes,” doyoung says, brushing the hair back from jaehyun’s eyes. they are too beautiful to be hidden. “my brother is not one to be crossed. especially not in the manner i did, and he was right,” he slides his hand down jaehyun’s neck, pressing into the fading bruise on his collarbone. “i am breaking many laws by being yours.”

 

“being mine,” jaehyun says, a smile playing around his lips. “i do not think i’ll ever get tired of hearing you say that.” he covers doyoung’s hand with his own. “ i am mortal,” he adds gently, as if reminding he’s doyoung of a fact that he will never forget. “additionally, i am half-blood. my lifespan is rather short. my existence is a mere blink of an eye compared to yours. perhaps your brother will be more forgiving of you once i pass.”

 

doyoung’s heart stops beating. “please, do not say such cruel things,” he says in quiet anguish. “i know this, i think of the day you will leave me every waking second. my brother’s wrath is nothing compared to the dread i feel for the moment i will meet your eyes on the acheron and will not be able to do anything but let you move on. i know one day you will leave me, but, please,” he swallows hard, looking away. he cannot bear to meet jaehyun’s eyes, not when he is so close to falling apart. “i cannot bear to hear it from your lips.”

 

jaehyun ducks to meets his eyes and doyoung wonders if he can see the pain there, see the way doyoung is breaking, slowly and painfully. “my king,” he whispers devastated, drawing doyoung close. “my king, my _love_.”

 

doyoung presses his face into the crook of jaehyun’s neck and lets a single, hot tear drop. he cannot remember the last time he cried. maybe he never has. “you are mine,” he says in quiet desperation, clutching jaehyun to him. “and i am yours. for as long as i exist, this will be true.”

 

“i know,” jaehyun says and he presses a kiss to the side of doyoung’s head. “my king, do not cry. do not shed tears for me.”

 

“if not for you, then who?” doyoung gasps. he is rapidly losing control, the ground has hit him. he has fallen. he is bleeding. is this what death feels like?

 

jaehyun pulls away, tips doyoung’s face up to meet his and doyoung sees the tears clinging to his lashes. “cry for no one, my love.” he says and kisses doyoung. he tastes of salt and desperation. doyoung drinks it in. “i promise, i will not leave you.” he kisses him again, hand coming up to cup doyoung’s cheek, familiar, familiar, familiar. “i will not leave you. i am yours.”

 

↠↞

 

jaehyun rarely ventures back to the mortal realm these days, and the time spent in doyoung’s realm has started to reflect in his features. his tan slowly fades until he is as nearly as pale as doyoung himself. he still glows though, golden and stunningly human, even when he is surrounded by the dead.

 

“do you not miss them? your family?” doyoung asks. they have been walking aimlessly today, jaehyun leading, going where he wants to go. doyoung lets him. jaehyun is as much a part of this world as doyoung is.

 

jaehyun scoffs, turning back to look at doyoung. “not at all,” he says. “we were not close.” he waits for doyoung to come closer and holds his hand, smoothing his thumb over the back of doyoung’s hand. “i was the third child out of five,” and his voice sounds far away. “my parents were good people, but they had a kingdom to run, and we were…” he hums, thinking. “a burden they had no reason to bear.”

 

“you were not close to your siblings?”

 

jaehyun smiles. “we were close, as all siblings would be, i suppose, but we were also quite far apart in age. by the time i turned a decade old, my eldest brother had already been sent off to  war and my eldest sister had been married to another kingdom. the youngest of us all was far too young to know what was happening.”

 

“you left one out,” doyoung says gently, helping jaehyun over a small creek cutting through stone.

 

jaehyun laughs, the sound echoing wonderfully into nothing. “nothing slips by you, my king.”

 

“my intelligence is boundless,” doyoung sniffs, breaking into a small smile when jaehyun laughs harder. it is one of the simplest joys in his meaningless existence, hearing jaehyun’s laugh.

 

“ah the last one,” jaehyun sighs, smile fading a little. “we were thick as thieves for a very long time, he was as close to me as any one person could he. we shared everything.” he studies the ground, fading from black grass to a smooth black marble. they were entering dangerous territory, wandering into the backwoods of doyoung’s realm, but doyoung does not stop him. jaehyun will be safe. “then our father drew us into competition, tried to pit us against each other for a prize that would be never be won.” a bitter expression crosses his face and doyoung brings his thumb up to smooth out the frown marring his forehead. jaehyun closes his eyes. “he died. fell from a parapet during a duel, and died instantly.”

 

“oh,” doyoung says hushed. “jaehyun.”

 

“i know he’s here,” jaehyun says blinking his eyes open.

 

“do you want to see him?” doyoung asks, hesitant. it is not allowed, by rule, but this is doyoung’s kingdom and he will do anything jaehyun asks of him. he would advise against it, but he would do it in the end.

 

jaehyun shakes his head. “no, i do not. he is not my brother anymore, only a shade.” he swallows hard, stepping onto a small outcropping of rock, standing a little higher than doyoung. “it will do more harm than good.”

 

“my dear jaehyun,” doyoung murmurs, looking up at him, tightening the hold he has around his hand. “you are quite wise.”

 

a little light comes back into jaehyun’s eyes, and a small smile plays about his lips. “well that is no surprise, i learned from the best after all.”  


↠↞

 

jaehyun asks to see all the secrets of doyoung’s realm, one day, nearly two years after they first met on that windy cliff side.

 

doyoung looks at him in surprise. “you have never cared before,” he says mildly, running his hands through jaehyun’s sandy hair, turning paler by the day, near to blending with the pillow upon which he lays.

 

jaehyun shrugs, looking at him, eyes a little too clear, a little too honest. “i want to see what you built, it’s important to me.”

 

“you may think of me differently after you do,” doyoung says, the fear starting to climb back up his throat. jaehyun has shown no revulsion to the dark corners of doyoung’s kingdom, has taken it all in stride, but there are somethings that not even the strongest soul can weather. “i am the ruler of this realm but i am also a jailer, jaehyun. i keep my own father under lock and key, confined to eternal darkness.”

 

“and yet there is so much light in you,” jaehyun replies instantly as if he knows what doyoung will say, turning on his side and resting an arm on doyoung’s bare waist. “do not mistake me for a weakling, my king. i know what it is you do, and i have loved you with all my heart _because_ it is you, not in spite of it.”

 

doyoung looks down at him, hair falling in his eyes, and sees the way jaehyun’s eyes darken, the way he bites his lip, eager. “you are dangerous,” doyoung murmurs, coming closer. jaehyun’s lips quirk up ever so slightly, but he says nothing, sliding his hand up into doyoung’s hair, pulling him down closer and closer until doyoung forgets everything but the taste of jaehyun on his lips.

 

↠↞

  


jaehyun flinches back as another roar sounds, rattling the ground beneath them. doyoung’s father lays in the darkest part of his realm, a thousand metres down, further than doyoung has ever dared to go himself, and yet, his fury can still be felt up here.

 

“how long has he been in there?” jaehyun whispers, hand in a vice like grip around doyoung’s wrist.

 

doyoung hums. “oh, maybe a hundred years lesser than my existence. quite a while.”

 

“will he ever get out?”

 

doyoung turns to look at him. jaehyun is pale and staring at the pit with wide eyes and doyoung remembers that even though he strong and brave, there are some things that even the best mortals cannot stomach. “no,” he says gently as another roar rocks them. “never.”

  


 

doyoung shows him everything, the paradise where heroes reside, the meadows where mortals who simply lived, neither good nor bad, just there, walk, endlessly. he shows him the fields where the souls of those who wasted their lives away on unrequited love reside. jaehyun’s hand clutches a little tighter when they are there, and doyoung does not mention it. throughout it all, jaehyun seems far away, head in another realm. the fear rises a little higher, choking him.

 

“and you already know ruby,” doyoung says finally, as they walk around the entrance to doyoung’s kingdom. the middle of the three heads lifts up at their arrival and sticks out a large tongue and jaehyun smiles.

 

“yes, i believe we have been acquainted,” he says fondly, lifting a hand to brush over her nose.

  


 

doyoung watches him all the way to the castle. jaehyun, lost deep in his thoughts, does not notice.

 

“why did you ask me to show you all this?” doyoung asks quietly, finding it hard to speak around the dread in his throat. if jaehyun wanted to leave, wanted to return to his home, he need not have gone to all this trouble. he could have simply asked and doyoung would have given it to him. would have let him go.

 

jaehyun blinks out his reverie. “hmm?”

 

“if.. if you wanted to leave,” doyoung starts haltingly, hating the way the words stick in his mouth. he is a fool to have fallen so fast and so hard. ten, as always, turned out to be right. “if you wanted to go back home, jaehyun, you need to have only said the words and i would have taken you.”

 

jaehyun stares at him in shock. “doyoung,” he says hushed and trips forward in his haste to grab doyoung’s hands. “the thought never even passed through my mind. what ever made you think so?”

 

doyoung clears his throat, and the knot in chest tightens. “you never asked to see my kingdom before,” he says softly. “i thought it was you bidding me goodbye.”

 

jaehyun lips part. “my king,” he says hushed, distressed. “i am _never_ leaving you, not unless you request it of me first. _this_ is my home.” he pulls their conjoined hands to his chest, gazing at doyoung in earnest. “ _you_ are my home.”

 

doyoung stares back down at him, all his breath coming out in a rush, and it feels like he can finally breathe again. “oh, but you-”

 

“i made you a promise.” jaehyun’s eyes are fierce and warm. doyoung is drowning in them all over again. “my love, i made you a promise and i do not intend to ever break it.”

 

↠↞

  


on the third anniversary of their meeting, jaehyun wakes in the earliest hours of the morning. contrary to what he’d first thought upon arrival, there is a difference between the day and night skies. now, in the quiet early morning light, jaehyun finds it easy to slip out of bed, placing a tender kiss to doyoung’s forehead before he goes, merely sliding a cloak over his bare chest.

 

the garden is beautiful at this hour, the lilies twinkle beautifully from their vines and the roses gleam brighter than the rubies doyoung had unearthed for him, tempting and lovely.

 

“you have made your decision then?”

 

jaehyun looks up to see ten standing by the tree, lips tilted into a smirk. “i made my decision a long time ago,” he says steadily. “there was never any doubt.”

 

ten nods. “good. do not stray from that.” there is a warning in his black eyes, a line not to be crossed and jaehyun nods his head in agreement. ten leads him to the pomegranate tree, the fruits are dark red and swollen with seeds. they hang close to jaehyun’s head, easy to pluck. “watered for a year with ambrosia.” ten’s eyes glimmer with knowing. “just as you asked.”

 

“thank you,” jaehyun whispers. the fruit is a heavy weight in his hand. “i am forever in your debt.”

 

ten shrugs. “keep on your toes, half blood.” he says bouncing a little before leaning forward to brush his lips against jaehyun’s ear. “if you betray him, i will show you that tartarus is not the only place that can conjure up horrors.” and then he’s gone, melting into shadows, wrapping around jaehyun for a brief second, suffocating him, before dissipating into thin air.

 

jaehyun takes a deep breath, rolling the fruit in between his hands. who could have ever thought that his fate would rest in his palms, red and inviting, begging him to break it open and take a bite.

 

“jaehyun, _don’t_.”

 

jaehyun pauses in the act of tearing open the pomegranate, heart stopping for a second. doyoung is standing by the entrance, disheveled, cloak pulled hastily over his clothes, hair puffy and wild, vulnerable in a way he never is in front of anyone other than jaehyun.

 

“i figured it out,” jaehyun says softly, gripping the halves of the fruit and ripping it apart. the inside is strange, where there should be the red veins of the fruit, it is golden instead and each seed glows an otherworldly colour. the juice drips down his hands, staining them red.

 

“you do not want this,” doyoung says and he sounds destroyed. but jaehyun knows him, knows him more intimately than anyone ever has, and he can see the seed of hope in his eyes, the wild eyed prayer residing there. “jaehyun, my love, you do not want this for yourself.”

 

“maybe,” jaehyun says, letting one half drop to the plush grass at his feet. “but i want you.”

 

doyoung has always told him he would give jaehyun everything, if he just asked. if he just asked, he would rip apart the world and hand him each half. if he asked he would give him his soul. and he _had_.

 

now it was jaehyun’s turn to give something back.

 

_and back again_

 

↠↞

 

jaehyun asks doyoung to take him up to his old home on the eve of their second year anniversary. anniversary seems like such a basic word for what that day was, too inadequate to describe the way jaehyun had felt seeing doyoung for the first time, face tilted up to the sun, eyes closed, arms outspread, unafraid of falling, his feet bare, toes curling into the grass. jaehyun had fallen instantly.

 

when he asks, doyoung’s face betrays nothing, but his eyes fall and jaehyun wonders if doyoung will ever stop being afraid of being left alone. if he will ever stop expecting jaehyun to leave him. he expects doyoung to question him, to protest, but he should not have because at the core of it all, doyoung has an undeniably good heart, and he will always do whatever jaehyun asks of him. doyoung simply nods, eyes sad, and holds an arm out for jaehyun to grasp onto.

 

they have travelled this path many times and jaehyun is intimately familiar with the way the ground is swept away from beneath his feet and how his heart lurches up to chest as the shadows gather around them and carry them away.

 

“is this goodbye?” doyoung asks when he gently sets jaehyun down on the edge of the cliff. jaehyun looks up to see doyoung’s eyes sadder than he has ever seen them. he is biting the inside of his cheek, a nervous habit that only arises when he doesn’t know what to do.

 

“never,” jaehyun whispers. “will you come when i call?”

 

“always.”

 

jaehyun moves forward cups doyoung’s cheek in his hand, places a kiss against his lips. “then trust in me, my king. remember my promise, and believe in me.”

 

doyoung kisses him back, open and hungry, flattening his palms against the small of jaehyun’s back. jaehyun bends into him willingly, curves into his touch like a sunflower arching to meet the sun, pressing back just as hard, just as desperate. there is nothing more lovely than kissing doyoung.

 

“be safe,” doyoung whispers, forehead pressed to his, eyes closed, and then he is gone.

  


 

jaehyun spends a week returning to his kingdom, thoroughly disguised against the probing eyes of mortals who he hasn’t laid eyes upon in years. he spends it basking in the sunshine, in the rain that comes pouring down, drenching him to bone, delighting him to his soul. he spends it being truly mortal.

 

 

 

“i think you are perhaps more foolish than doyoung,” comes ten’s voice behind him on the sixth day.

 

jaehyun, seated by the edge of the cliff, smiles down at his lap. “we are meant to be, then,” he says.

 

ten moves next to him, feet soundless on the wild grass. “what you are asking, it will take a very long time. a year, maybe more. and it might not work.”

 

jaehyun hums, staring out at the sea, at the gray waves stubbornly refusing to mirror the sun above. fickle. temperamental. like the world of the gods. “but there is a chance.” it is not a question.

 

“yes.”

 

“then i am willing to do it,” jaehyun says. “will you help me?”

 

_and forwards_

 

↠↞

  


doyoung’s fingers wrap around his wrist as jaehyun raises the twelve seeds to eye level. twelve seeds for twelve months. for eternity with doyoung.

 

“you do not realise what you are throwing away,” doyoung says, hushed. “jaehyun, i am _not_ worth this.”

 

“you are worth everything,” jaehyun locks eyes with doyoung and smiles. “my king, you are _my_ everything. do not refuse me this.”

 

“i must,” doyoung shakes his head, desperation wringing from every syllable. “i cannot give you this, my love. i cannot.”

 

“how fortunate then,” jaehyun says, cupping doyoung’s face with his free hand. his heart beats harder when doyoung’s eyes flutter close at the touch. “that it is in my power to give.”

 

“jaehyun-”

 

“you have given me so much. allow me to give you this.”

 

“it is no mere trinket you are giving me, jaehyun,” doyoung whispers. “it is your mortality, it is _you_.”

 

jaehyun gazes at him. “do you believe you gave me only mere trinkets, my king?” when doyoung says nothing, he presses forward. “you gave me everything, you willingly gave me your heart, you offered me your kingdom, you made me feel _loved_. this is the least i can do in return.”

 

“i did not ask for anything in return,” doyoung says hoarsely.

 

jaehyun smiles widely, eyes crinkling up beautifully. “that is precisely why i want to do this.”

 

and he raises his hand to his mouth, and tips the seeds in.

  


↠↞

 

jaehyun blinks awake, the starlight pouring in through the open window lights the room enough that he has no need for candles. doyoung is asleep next to him, sheets pushed away, baring his body to the light. he is the most wonderful thing jaehyun has ever seen.

 

jaehyun stays there for a while, tracing over doyoung’s body with his gaze. drinks in every curve of doyoung’s body, every line. he could do so for a thousand years and still not be content.

 

when jaehyun shifts to lay back down, doyoung’s eyes slide open.

 

“is anything wrong?” doyoung murmurs, voice thick with sleep.

 

jaehyun is filled with fondness. “nothing, my king. go back to sleep.”

 

doyoung squints at him through lidded eyes, before nudging closer and pressing his face into jaehyun’s shoulder. “i love you,” he says quietly. “my darling, i love you more than i can say.”

 

jaehyun’s heart aches with love, with a thousand unsaid words of feelings he cannot explain. “i love you too, my king. for as long as i exist, i will love you.”

  


**Author's Note:**

> if you don't know, ambrosia was known in greek myth to be able to grant immortality to a mortal. i wanted to add that twist in it that made the story inherently a part of persephone's myth. 
> 
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